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Cowboys honour Elisala with win over Eels

Joe Barton

North Queensland snatched an ugly 14-10 NRL victory in the face of a stoic Parramatta outfit to honour their fallen teammate Alex Elisala.

The Cowboys took to the field with heavy hearts, following the death of the under 20s hooker who had his life support switched off on Monday.

The club's forward pack taped their heads in the style Elisala played with as a tribute to their friend, while both teams took part in a minute's silence before the match.

The Cowboys only reclaimed the lead with 13 minutes remaining when star centre Brent Tate crossed virtually untouched from a scrum 10 metres out of the Eels line.

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Parramatta were denied a try with the last play of the match which would have given them a shot at victory when winger Vai Toutai was ruled to have lost control of the ball following a brave tackle by Antonio Winterstein.

Toutai's effort was indicated to be a try by on-field referee Chris James, only to have the decision overturned when it was sent to the video referees - much to the disappointment of most of the 9,157 fans at the ground.

The Eels produced a magnificent defensive display to deny the visitors for much of the 80-minute contest, with Jarryd Hayne at the centre of much of the action.

The likely NSW winger produced two incredible tackles in the first half to deny Tariq Sims and Gavin Cooper certain tries.

Hayne himself was denied seven minutes into the second half when he was chopped down by Johnathan Thurston metres out from the tryline.

But pin-point cut-out passes from Matt Bowen and Thurston sent wingers Ash Graham and Winterstein over for tries to give the Cowboys an 8-4 halftime lead.

Parramatta had opened the scoring in just the second minute when Matt Bowen failed to shadow an innocuous kick over the dead ball line, allowing Ryan Morgan to sneak under his guard and plant down.

They were first to score in the second half too, when powerhouse prop Fuifui Moimoi crashed through the tackles of Matt Scott, Tariq Sims and Matt Bowen to dot down next to the posts.

The Eels held the lead for 17 minutes before Tate intervened.

Origin stars Thurston and Hayne both spent time being treated for injuries, but soldiered on to complete the game.

Tim Mannah overcame a leg injury suffered last week, initially feared to be a broken leg, to take his place in the Eels starting lineup.